Back in October of 2019, I got a chance to play Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD. It was my first real experience with Super Monkey Ball, and I absolutely loved it. Now, almost two years later, I am excited to discuss Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, which contains a whole bunch of awesome elements that fans are sure to love.

Now, I’m sure that you have seen the news about Banana Mania already, probably because of the sheer number of crossovers taking place here. That’s right folks, right out of the box you can play and unlock Sonic the Hedgehog, Kazuma Kiryu, Beat from Jet Set Radio, and Tails, amongst a few other characters. There are also DLC characters coming, such as Morgana from Persona 5, Hello Kitty, and more.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a remastered version of the first 3 Super Monkey Ball games. As a result, you can play through the story mode and challenge modes, which contain over 300 stages. In order to unlock characters, costumes, and even certain special elements such as the jump ability from Banana Blitz, you have to complete story mode levels. Each level has a set of missions, which increase the number of Banana Coins you can get.

However, just completing the level itself will get you some coins, so you don’t necessarily have to complete all the missions. Some missions seem simple enough, like collecting all bananas in a stage. Others are more difficult, like completing a level without stopping or completing a level within a certain time limit.

Completing levels also unlocks challenge versions, which give you a series of stages of varying difficulty that aren’t connected to the main story. You can also unlock special modes, such as the Golden Banana mode, which has you collect all the bananas in a series of ten stages. Other special modes include Dark Banana mode, which has you avoiding rotten bananas, and Reverse mode, where you play story levels, with the goal and start points swapped.

If a level is too hard, and you want to progress beyond it, there are several accessibility options available to you. You can turn on Helper mode, which increases the amount of time you get, and offers other helpful additions. You can also mark a level as cleared, and just skip it for a while and come back to it later, though you won’t get any rewards for it.

There are also 12 party games you can enjoy in Local Co-Op, from racing, billiards, golf, tennis, bowling, and more. The party games are great for people who may not enjoy the timed levels, but still want to play the game with loved ones. It is also great to play with kids or friends, though it only works via local multiplayer. Online features are reserved for leaderboards.

When you aren’t playing levels or enjoying party games, you can spend time in the Point Shop purchasing characters, costumes, customization items, and more. There are over 100 items you can use to customize your characters, including different balls and other cosmetics. You can also purchase frames and items for the new photo mode, along with special sets of levels including the original, unaltered versions of stages that have been rebalanced in Banana Mania.

There is a lot to enjoy with Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, and honestly, the only problem I have had with it is that occasionally between levels the game would freeze and I’d have to restart it. However, it saves after each level you complete, so I never lost any progress or had any issue with having to redo things. Other than the time limits being a little restrictive, which could just be me being terrible, I think a lot of folks will love Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania.

In fact, if you are a Super Monkey Ball fan or you just want a fun little arcade-esque experience to enjoy, this is the perfect game for you. The comic-book-esque story sequences are cute, the music is fantastic, and the game is just good, clean, and fun. I could see this being a great gift option for kids too and being able to take it on the go is also a plus.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania was provided by SEGA for this review.

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Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania

$29.99 USD

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Frequent Autosaves
• Party Games and Fun Family-Friendly Content
• Over 300 Levels
• A Few Accessibility Options
• Smooth Controls

Cons

• Time Limits are Restrictive
• A Few Freezes and Bugs